Stereotypies: Antecedents and Consequences in Domestic Dog

Stereotypies: Antecedents and Consequences in Domestic Dog Stereotypies their antecedents and consequences in the domestic dog (Canis Familiaris) 1 Chapter 1: Introduction (2000 words) 1424 1.1 Repetitive Behaviours 2 The simplest behaviours are repetitive including normal play but this usually has a challenge, an example is avoiding cracks in the pavement (Williams and Hill, 2012). There are many kinds of repetitive behaviour, when learning a trick the behaviour is practiced until the whole trick is flawless. Many believe that the young play as a way of practicing the skills needed when adults; however research by Fagen (1981) and Smith (1982) found that â€Å"play is not practice†. 1.1.1 Normal behaviours Normal behaviour is essential to promote an animal’s psychological and physical homeostasis so the animal can interact with and modify its environment. One of the five freedoms used to assess animal welfare is the ability to express normal behaviours (FAWC, 2009). However, the definition of normal behaviours in human terms is relative to a person’s culture and age and may be related to an animal’s culture. Kilgour (2012) asserts the definition of normal behaviour is not straightforward; however, an ethogram of domestic animals nearest wild relatives gives some idea of an animal’s different behaviours and time budgets. Lindsay (2001:pp.40-42) provides a dog ethogram of ‘normal behaviours’. Daily activity for dogs and their owners tends to vary day to day but over the seven days affords a more constant estimate of activity (Dow et al., 2009) this indicates that many companion dogs’ activities tend to be routine. Stressed dogs frequently find grooming calming, if the stress is long term this can lead to over grooming causing hair loss and damage to the skin. 1.1.2 Abnormal behaviours Abnormal behaviours are those that are atypical of animal’s in the wild (Birkett and Newton-Fisher, 2011). Abnormal repetitive behaviours are unvarying and apparently functionless that can be readily interrupted, whereas for stereotypy the behaviour must be difficult to interrupt (Mason and Latham, 2004; Haverbeke et al., 2008) these can be either impulsive/compulsive or stereotypies (Garner, 2006). 1.1.3 Stereotypic behaviours Stereotypic behaviours are all repetitive unexplained behaviours but are not necessarily predictable (Bergeron et al., 2006). Repetitive stereotypic behaviours may be symptomatic of stress but may not necessarily be a problem (Rooney et al., 2009), in the dog this could be grooming to relieve stress and only becomes a problem if it results in hair loss or damage to the skin. 1.1.4 Stereotypies Many people understand the term stereotypy to indicate that an individual exhibits a problem behaviour. 1.1.5 The Evolutionary view of Stereotypy Japyassà º and Malange (2014) write that from the evolutionary view the term abnormal behaviour should be avoided, because phenotypic diversity in genes, morphology and behaviour are major forces driving evolution. Phenotypic diversity is important as enables an organism to adapt to new environments; those behaviours that seem abnormal now could become the new normal depending upon evolutionary selection. The apparent lack of function in behaviour is questionable as eventually some function may be determined, or help in coping with stress or a means of communication. The function of stereotypes may also be revealed in unexpectedly perhaps related to communication (Japyassà º and Malange, 2014). 1.1.6 The Ethological and Animal Welfare view of Stereotypy The animal welfare view is that stereotypies are abnormal, functionless repetitive behaviours (Japyassà º and Malange, 2014). look for another ref. The ethological view is that stereotypies are repetitive behaviours that are unchanging irrespective of the context (Japyassà º and Malange, 2014). These views are drawn together by Mason (1991) defining stereotypy as repetitive, unvarying, uninterruptable behaviours with no apparent proximate or ultimate function. However, Rapp and Vollmer (2005) write that frequently stereotypic behaviours provides their own reinforcement and not social consequences. 1.1.7 What are Impulsive/Compulsive Behaviours Impulsive/compulsive repetitive behaviours are variable and have a goal directed; but the behaviour persists even after the achieving the goal or the goal becomes inappropriate (Garner, 2006). 1.1.8 Impulsive repetitive behaviours Impulsive repetitive behaviours are identified in humans with Tourette’s syndrome manifesting as complex tics, or as trichotillomania, hair plucking. 1.1.9 Difference between Impulsive/Compulsive Behaviours Clinically the distinction between impulsive and compulsive repetitive behaviours is important, however differentiating them is more complex in animals than in humans (Garner, 2006). 1.1.10 Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Mills and Luescher (2006) state that stereotypy and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are hard to differentiate Eilam et al. (2012) add that OCD is a disabling condition affecting the sufferer’s quality of life. Ethology is the study of animal behaviour aiming to understand proximate and the ultimate causes of behaviours; the concept of the ethogram methodology is extended to the study of OCD behaviour (Eilam et al., 2012). Observations by Eilam et al. (2006) showed animals performing rigid behaviour sequences in specific locations, according to Kalueff et al. (2007) these are the spatiotemporal and locomotor characteristics of OCD. 1.1.11 What is the difference between OCB and stereotypy Chok and Koesler (2014) used functional analysis to assess the differences between stereotypy and obsessive compulsive behaviours (OCB) by identifying physiological states internal (heart rate) and external (defined by facial expression or vocalisations). Signs of pleasure were regarded as a measure positive reinforcement, hence stereotypy and of displeasure regarded as signs of OCB. 1.1.12 Obsessive-Compulsive Behaviours (OCB) Humans exhibiting obsessive-compulsive behaviours (OCB) are aware that these behaviours are irrational but are unable to resist their compulsion to continue to perform the behaviour. 1.2 Stereotypies and the environment 1.2.1 Maternal Deprivation Captive animals particularly in commercial environments but including companion animals are frequently removed from their mothers earlier than would occur in the wild (Latham and Mason, 2008). Maternal deprivation leads to an increase in the frequency and severity stereotypes these can be short term as with belly-nosing in piglets or can cause neural changes inducing later persistent stereotypes (Latham and Mason, 2008). The relationship between the animal’s stereotypic behaviour and the environmental deficit is not always clear. Wiedenmayer (1997) found that providing a substrate suitable for digging did not reduce stereotypies in gerbils but providing a tunnel system did. Digging was not the controlling motivation just means to achieve a burrow. 1.2.2 Stereotypy: Interdisciplinary Communication The term stereotypy has different uses in different research areas ethological, medical and animal welfare; there is not even an agreement about including lack of function or abnormality in the definition (Japyassà º and Malange, 2014). Edwards et al. (2012) asserts the lack of a consistent definition for stereotypies is insufficient for both academic and medical diagnostic purposes. 1.3 Stereotypies Behaviours 1.3.1 Ungulate stereotypies Ungulates are the most common mammal exhibiting stereotypy; many ungulate stereotypies tend to resemble species typical feeding and foraging behaviours (Bergeron et al., 2006). Examples of typical stereotypies for ungulates are given in Table 1. Cattle at pasture spend between 7 to 9 hours grazing and similar time ruminating; possibly herbivores have evolved to require a minimum feeding period each day (Redbo and Nordblad,1997). This could explain the number of oral stereotypies reported for animals fed on a concentrate food with restricted roughage as their time budget eating and ruminating is less that at pasture. Table 1: Examples of ungulate stereotypy 1.3.2 Carnivore stereotypies Some species of carnivores do well in captivity do not exhibit abnormal behaviours and breed successfully. While carnivores that have high activity levels and patrol large ranges have high levels of stereotypy. Vickery and Mason (2005) found carnivore stereotypies are mostly locomotory pacing and weaving, other reported stereotypies was some oral and head swaying. Clubb and Mason (2007) found the carnivore stereotypy levels are significantly predicted by their typical travel distances and natural home-range size. Perhaps some species are unsuitable for zoos and should be conserved in large areas that enable their natural behaviours. 1.4 Overall Research Aims 1.4.1 Relationship between breed type and stereotypy To try to measure the spread of different stereotypies across breed groups. It has been found that some breeds have their own particular set of stereotypes for example flack sucking in Doberman Pinchers (Houpt, 1992). 1.5 Outline Research Methods and Timescales 1.5.1 Research method A questionnaire will be used to measure the relationship between breed type and the stereotypy emitted. The survey was initially created using several survey software programs available online; many were restricted either the number of questions asked or the variety of question types was limited, or the resultant output file was not in a format readily converted for SPSS. Eventually Google Docs was selected and the survey created and was piloted on social media the resulting file of about 20 responses was downloaded in text format that could be readily input into a spreadsheet which then needs to be reformatted for input into SPSS for processing. The questionnaire included some questions that had open questions in the form of the ‘other’ option a free text input area. This was to allow flexibility and for respondents to feel empowered and encourage more accurate replies. This means these responses need interpreting and the formation of new categories or allocated to avai lable options for processing (Questionnaire, 2015). These questions are qualitative but once the responses have been interpreted in allocated to categories, the subsequent treatment of the data will be quantitative and analysed using quantitative statistical methods. The social environment shared by the domestic dog and their human companions unique and investigating the environment care must be taken not introduce bias by the questions asked. 1.5.2 Comparability of Responses 1.5.2.1 Outline Research Method 1 Timescales During May 2015 the survey was deployed in several different social media and forums across a number of interest groups including relating to dogs: trainers, problems, breed categories and general chat forums. The number of respondents stalled by June and further locations sort.

Discrimintation Of Aids Patients :: essays research papers

AIDS, or the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome has been one of the most threatening diseases of the 20th century. Ever since it has been discovered in 1981, it has been constantly infecting men, women, adults, newly born children, homosexuals and heterosexuals. In definition AIDS is an extremely serious disorder that results from severe damage to the body’s defense against disease. Even though AIDS was born in an era of sophisticated medical and surgical developments, it still remains incurable. The ways through which the HIV, Human Immunodeficiency Virus, can be transmitted are: blood transfusion, contaminated needles used in drug addiction, from an infected husband to his wife through sexual intercourse, or from an infected mother to her new born baby during pregnancy. Because it is that much spread and so far incurable, AIDS has aroused a lot hysterical fears and a number of controversies and ethical questions related to the patient’s rights, doctor’s rights and the right of the public at large. While some people think that AIDS patients should be isolated in quarantines, alienated from the rest of the world, others find no reason in this harsh form of separation and discrimination against the infected patients. The patients must also have the right to lead a normal life that must be respected by all the public, and government too. Although AIDS is not more contagious than any other disease, its patients are suffering both social and medical discrimination, and that is not only unethical but could also cause an increase in the spread of the disease. The fact that AIDS is no more contagious than any other disease, makes the reasons behind the people’s fear of AIDS totally illogical. All people are thinking of is that it’s a deadly virus, but there is a lot more to know about AIDS than this. People must be more educated about this virus and how it may be transmitted in order to protect themselves and avoid their constant pa ranoia about AIDS patients. AIDS, unlike many diseases, is not transmitted by shaking hands, or through coughs, or by swimming in the same pool with an HIV positive. It has also been proven that even the exposure to body fluids such as saliva through deep kissing wouldn’t transmit the virus. This is because the HIV is found to be very weak in open air; it can easily be killed by ordinary household disinfectants (Kelly 33-34).

Racial Diversity Essay

Associate Program Material Racial Diversity in Society Worksheet Part I Complete the following using the MySocLab Social Explorer Map: Income Inequality by Race (located on the student website) as a reference: †¢ Select 1 racial group from the list below: o African American o Asian American o Arab American o Hispanic American/Latino o White/Caucasian †¢ Write a 150- to 300-word summary of the economic, social, and political standings of that group. Use additional resources if necessary, from the University Library or your textbooks. Provide citations for all the sources you use. As we all know in history we have noticed that the white race has been the most dominant and the most successful races in our history. Since the beginning of time the Europeans were very successful with importing and exporting of goods. Most of the successful businesses are ran by the white race who are still trying to expand their businesses in other countries. When it comes social most white people fit some of the stereotypes given to them. An example of this is that they are known to be very polite with any person they meet and try to help them as much as they can to the best of their abilities. In the political standings most of our presidents, congressmen, and senates are of the white race. This is something has been seen ever since the government was established. The white race is known to have the biggest influence over every other political system in the world. Part II Answer the following in 50 to 150 words each. Provide citations for all the sources you use. What is racism? In what ways does racism affect diversity? Racism is a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. Racism affects diversity by creating separate groups of different races. This would cause conflict between the same race that split into different sections. How do racial groups interact in contemporary America? Are interactions positive, negative, or neutral? Support your response using proper citations. The interaction of racial groups in America all depends on the type of situation or conversation they are having. There are times where certain interactions between people are positive, negative or neutral it mostly depends on the topic or situation that is going on. Some situations can turn out bad and others can actually cause a positive change in a person’s thought process of something. Are there existing social inequities based on race? Why or why not? There are social in equalities based on race today especially when it comes to minorities coming into the country. We see on the news and hear stories of minorities who are trying to make a difference in their lives and get judged just because they might of come to this countrie illegally. What do you believe to be the causes of racial prejudice and discrimination in today’s society? I feel that the cause of racial prejudice and discrimination in today’s society is that many people like to follow what others do and feel that by them joining in on the prejudice that they will get accepted. Also I feel that assumption plays a role in this because a lot of people like to judge others on things they do or the way they dress or even by just the way the person looks.

History inquiry

The impact of World War 1 on the farming industry was the unreason for its downfall in the 1920. † During World War 1 farming was booming. The farm prices were giant at a staggering 9. 7 US billion dollars and blueness for farmers were great. The reason for this was that the foreign market (mainly Europe) was demanding allot from America due to the fact that many foreign countries had little harvest due to the war. America was mostly isolated and not involved in the war so farming was not effected by the war in America. This meet that the other countries involved in the war had to rely onAmerica's produce, meaning America's farms were selling allot more produce. Therefore they were gaining allot of money and they were living in very good conditions. Farmers in America at this time Oust before the 1 ass's) decided that to keep up with the demand of harvest they would get loans to allow them to get the latest technology to grow and harvest more produce, more quickly. They believe d that this would make them more money in the long run and therefore they were quick to do it. However, things began to go spiraling down for farmers when the war ended.In the beginning of the sass's foreign countries began to recover and thus the American farmers lost their foreleg market. Farm price dropped to a low 4. 1 US billion dollars. Losing their foreign market meet that they were left with their big loans and were stuck with their newly bought technology making way too much produce. The mass amounts of produce they made didn't have enough people buying it and so it went to waste. Leaving farmers with very little income, meaning they had no money to pay off these loans with. This caused the farmers to quickly fall into dept.The dept meant farmers had to continue to produce the same amount of mass produce to pay off their dept. Thus they were stuck in a loop that was pulling them deeper and deeper into dept. During this time the living conditions for farming families were ho rrendous. 6 million farming families had to live on an average of a mere $200 annul. Around 25 million farmers on small farms had to move to work on a commercially big farm. And they farmed on these farms so much they exhausted the land. These figures and facts show Just how bad the social and economic conditions came for farmers.Besides from farmers, African Americans and Immigrants were also finding this decade to be quite hurdling. Racism and racial segregation could be seen everywhere and black Americans had very difficult times, especially because of growing black hate groups such as the ASK. Immigrants and black Americans had allot of trouble in finding good work in American. Immigrants often had a giant language barrier and allot of the time, both immigrants and African-Americans were very uneducated. These were very big social problems of the 1 ass's. This source was made primarily by Fitzpatrick, Daniel Robert (1891-1969).It shows the hardship of farmers In the 1 ass's. As the picture depicts; Farmers are broke and money Lies else where In Industries and such. It successfully shows how bad farmers of this time have It. The republic policy of having a laissez fairer has been said to have a part In causing the down fall of farming. This Is because these polices refused the government from interfering in the farms and no aid or support could would be more realistic to say that this infant didn't cause anything but instead ended the problem from being solved or made better.The technological advance of the sass's could be described as a cause for the farming crash. Many newly invented machines were put into action to increase the speed and amount of produce being made. The machines meant more produce and the produce couldn't be sold because of the lack of market. Loans were made to get aloud of these machines and these loans couldn't be paid back, leaving many farmers in debt. However these loans were only made because of the conditions set in place by the effects of WWW. The arbitration was also apart of the cause of the down fall of farming in America in the sass's.The prohibition banned all alcoholic drinks in America, therefore stopping the production of all alcohol including spirits. This meant that all the wheat and barley used to make these drinks were no longer bought leaving the farmers with even less produce being sold. The amount of wheat being bought dropped by 25% and the amount of barley being bought dropped by 90%. This may be a cause for the farmer's downfall but it had no where near the effect that the impact of WWW had on farmers. It was a lesser cause and held far little importance than the impact of WWW.

The internal stakeholders refer to the employees

The current business environment is characterized by a considerable level of competitive rivalry and as a result businesses have to constantly reengineer their internal operations in order to build and maintain a competitive advantage.In this respect, a business organization has three strategies at its disposal: differentiation, cost minimization and focus. However the effectiveness of these strategies depends on effective communications between the internal stakeholders and the external stakeholders.The internal stakeholders refer to the employees and the top management while the external stakeholders are the channel members such as the customers, the distribution intermediaries and the suppliers. The top management in a business organization has to coordinate between the different stakeholder groups in order to maximize operational efficiency.This is particularly relevant in the case of international business which is characterized by differing customer tastes and preferences acros s political boundaries. As a result, integrated marketing communications are the critical success factors in building and maintaining a competitive advantage.A business organization has three strategies at its disposal: differentiation, cost minimization and focus (cited in Chanaron & Jolly, 1999).In order to make these strategies effective, the management of a business organization has to conduct marketing programs on a periodic basis so that customer tastes and preferences can be tracked. For this reason, marketing is essential to improving business performance.In this respect, the high state of competitive rivalry means that achieving sustainability in competitive advantages is no longer simple. For this reason, organizational structures have to be maintained flexible (cited in Culpan, 1989).This allows the organization to adapt to changing circumstance in the market. However the management must have information about market dynamics in the first place. For this reason marketing metrics must be developed and according to these metrics performance measures must be developed.Marketing shapes consumer needs and wants through efficient application of the 4Ps of marketing. The four Ps are price, product, place and promotion (cited in Hitt, 2007). Marketing managers can make use of the 4 Ps to manipulate consumer needs and wants because consumers are not always aware of their own needs.Therefore it is left to the marketing manager to determine what needs are hidden and then to develop the products that would satisfy those needs (cited in Greenley, 1989). In this manner, the marketing manager creates both fresh needs and wants.For example, computer users did not know that they needed a graphical user interface until Microsoft introduced the concept (cited in Kotler & Armstrong, 2005). In this case the need was user-friendliness in operating computer applications. By identifying this need, Microsoft created Windows which created the consumer want. Consumers wanted Windows to satisfy their need for user-friendly computing experience.This example serves to illustrate that the marketing manager can certainly shape consumer needs and wants. He can do so by collecting information about the market and by forecasting future market demands based on this information.Collecting information about the market takes place through market research. This information enables the marketing manager to conduct market segmentation effectively. Market segmentation facilitates target marketing.The marketing manager shapes consumer needs and wants through the process of target marketing. The four Ps serve as the tools with which to conduct target marketing. In Microsoft’s example, the product was given the features of a graphical user interface in order to enhance user-friendliness of the product.The pricing method followed was the value-in-use pricing. Considerable expenditures were made in promotion in order to illustrate to the consumers how they could bene fit from using the product.Finally, place was attended to in the form of product bundling in which IBM personal computers were packaged with a version of Windows, thus facilitating product availability. The strategy at the heart of Windows’ campaign was product differentiation and through this strategy Microsoft shaped the needs and wants of the IT market.The marketing manager has to monitor the stage of the product lifecycle. He has to maintain the product in the growth stage because either in the maturity or the decline stage, the product will have to be discontinued (cited in Dess, 2007).However the threat of competitive rivalry means that the marketing manager will have to constantly introduce new features into the product in order to maintain it in the growth stage. In this respect, the marketing manager is shaping consumer needs and wants by differentiating product features in line with his reading of unstated needs in the market. However with effective market research, the market manager can also create wants unaccompanied by any needs.This is the phenomenon of consumerism which leads to purchases for the purpose of personal satisfaction and not to satisfy any actual needs (cited in Martin, 1985). Consumerism is an example of the way in which marketing shapes consumer needs and wants.Because of the high state of competitive rivalry, businesses must conduct the continuous improvement program. This means that managing change on a continuous basis becomes a critical success factor (cited in Zineldin, 2000).However, as mentioned before, the challenge in making change work is to maintain alignment with the strategic focus of the company. This alignment cannot be maintained unless employees are involved in the process.Most change management projects fail because of employee resistance (cited in Aaker, 2004). Employees are unwilling to give up traditional practices in which they had built up a considerable level of experience and expertise.For this reas on the top management must involve the employees when it comes to implementing change. However involvement of the employees must depend on external market conditions which will set the direction of change. In other words, the perspectives of learning and growth and internal business processes must be aligned to the customer perspective (cited in Bank, 1993). This illustrates the importance of marketing to the rest of the organization.Because of the fast change in the current business environment, businesses can no longer continue to conduct their operations as before. For this reason they need a forward-looking performance management system which creates an evolving framework of metrics for performance measurement. That is why the balanced scorecard is valuable management tool.However the effectiveness of this tool can only be maintained with marketing because marketing enables the management to assess the future direction of demand patterns according to which internal processes can be reengineered. Even though employees are the most important assets of an organization, they are only relevant to the extent that they are able to satisfy market needs. So marketing is critical to improving business performance.As mentioned before, the current business environment is characterized by a considerable level of competitive rivalry. This means that businesses have to constantly reengineer their internal operations in order to build and maintain a competitive advantage (cited in Grover & Kettinger, 2008). Therefore the process of managing change becomes a critical success factor.When it comes to managing change involving a techno-structural intervention, the strategic alignment process becomes relevant. This alignment process takes place between four areas: IT strategy, business strategy, organizational issues and information systems issues (cited in Stair & Reynolds, 2007). IT strategy is the process of selecting the best software and hardware platform while business s trategy refers to the financing strategy.Organizational issues refer to the employees’ skills sets while the information systems issues refer to the knowledge management system. In this respect, the alignment process cannot be achieved effectively unless there is an efficient and effective communications structure.Employees are the most important assets of an organization and therefore the top management has to focus on creating the best possible working conditions (cited in Armstrong, 2005). In this respect, the critical consideration is to create an efficient and effective performance management system. This is so because the strategic focus of an organization should be to align employee interests to organizational interests.Therefore the management has to build a communications structure which will indicate to the employees as to which behavioral aspects are desired by the top management. In this respect, the learning contract becomes relevant. The learning contract is a d ocument which specifies the activities that will be taken in order to attain a learning goal.The learning contract is an example of integrated marketing communications because it represents an agreement between different stakeholder groups such as the employees, their immediate managers and the external stakeholders (cited in Ross & Perry, 2002). The advantage of this learning process is that the learning goals are aligned to the strategic focus of the organization.Organizations in the current business environment have to maintain a continuous improvement program. As mentioned before, this refers to the process of managing change.However when it comes to managing change, integrated marketing communications become more important than ever because employee resistance is the main reason behind the failures of most change management projects (cited in Hoyle, 2007).Therefore the most important aspect when it comes to managing change is that the top management has to stay in constant comm unications with the employees in order to promote the cause of change. In this respect, the management must determine how the change is aligned to enhancing the strategic focus of the company.Once this alignment has been facilitated, the management can communicate with the employees to promote the potential of higher productivity as a result of the change. The main reason behind employee resistance to change is that the employees will have to learn news ways of conducting the operational processes.Integrated marketing communications are critical when it comes to building a culture based on ownership, responsibility and accountability (cited in Besterfield, 2002). As mentioned before, organizations have the three strategies of differentiation, cost minimization and focus.The problem with implementing these three strategies is that they create competitive advantages that are not sustainable. As mentioned before, the current business environment is characterized by a fast pace of chang e driven by both technological sophistication and managerial developments. Therefore achieving sustainability is the critical success factor (cited in Shannon, 1999).However that objective cannot be met with the aforementioned three strategies because the competitor organizations can copy these strategies quickly in order to create similar operational improvements and thus the competitive advantage is gone quickly.As a result, the management must create an organizational structure which can be the source of a sustainable competitive advantage (cited in Higgins, 1972).This organizational structure is based on a specific cultural orientation which can be built through integrated marketing communications.Integrated marketing communications are critical to building a culture based on innovation and learning. In order to maintain innovations, the management of the company has to conduct training and development programs on a periodic basis.However the problem with formal training and dev elopment programs is that they cannot anticipate all the issues that are likely to arise in the actual business environment. An additional problem is to create a framework which can assess the return on investment in these training and development programs.These problems are avoided with the learning contracts. This is because in the learning contract the learning outcomes are individually negotiated between the learner and the teacher.Therefore the learning outcomes are directly tied to the strategic focus of the organization. In this respect the learner, the employee, is in the best position to determine the training needs while the teacher, the manager, is in the best position to determine whether these needs can be aligned to the strategic focus of the organization.Integrated marketing communications also involve external channel members. This can be illustrated with the case of Dell Inc (cited in Leseure & Brookes, 2004). The computer hardware manufacturer implements the e-comm erce business model.This facilitates the direct distribution model which enables the company to eliminate distribution intermediaries from the value chain. In this manner, the company has managed to implement the cost minimization strategy effectively. However in order to maintain this effectiveness, the company has to coordinate closely with the suppliers in order to ensure that the needed components are delivered timely to the factory floor.In this respect, the integrated marketing communications take place in the form of information sharing. The information sharing network enables the company to share demand forecasts with the suppliers so that they can maintain their own inventory accordingly (cited in Fred, 2006).Implementing this system has enabled Dell to achieve the highest level of inventory turnover in the industry. The success that Dell has had in creating a market leadership position would not have been possible without integrated marketing communications.Integrated mark eting communications become even more important when it comes to international business. When it comes to globalizing operations, a business organization has three strategies at its disposal: acquisitions, joint ventures and Greenfield projects.Depending on the level of cultural differentiation, the international business can select one of these strategies when it comes to globalization. However those companies which focus on maintaining a particular cultural orientation adopt the strategy of Greenfield projects because it allows them to recreate the same organizational structure as there is in the home country.In this respect delegation of authority becomes a critical consideration because companies must customize their strategies to align with the local cultural attributes. In this respect, the issues of standardization and customization become important. However in order to address these issues effectively, integrated marketing communications become critical. In this respect, the management must communicate with different stakeholders.For both public and private sector organizations, adopting the strategy of integrated marketing communications is a vital component of improving operational effectiveness in terms of maximizing the value of each dollar spent. According to the traditional framework, different marketing activities are conducted in separate silos.However there is no need to maintain separate silos as the different marketing programs are communicating with the same target market (cited in Raffee & Kreutzer, 1989). Therefore the result is duplication of efforts and the waste of resources.In order to make the communications process effective, the separate silos have to conduct market research activities. As a result the activities are being duplicated across the organization. In this framework, the strategy of spending is not in alignment with the strategic focus of the organization.In order to create this alignment, the management in both public an d private sector organizations must conduct integrated marketing communications. This means that different departments across the organization are coordinating their marketing efforts and therefore expenditures are not being duplicatedIn conducting integrated marketing communications, the process of internal benchmarking becomes effective (cited in Chandra, 1993).According to the process of internal benchmarking, the different departments within an organization compare internal processes to identify those which are producing the best results. In this respect, a database of best practices is developed and these best practices are implemented throughout the organization, thus organizational effectiveness is maximized.The process is relevant when it comes to conducting integrated marketing communications. In this respect, different departments can compare their success rates in terms of communicating with the public via different promotional media and thus consolidate the operations in terms of focusing only on those media which have been producing the best results.This maximizes operational effectiveness not only in terms of minimizing costs but also in terms of maximizing the effectiveness of promotional messages that are sent to the target market.In order to make the process of integrated marketing communications effective, the management has to conduct market research in order to facilitate the process of market segmentation (cited in Omachonu & Ross, 2004). The process of market segmentation enables a business organization to determine the stakeholders in terms of their demographics and psychographics so that specific needs can be addressed in the communications process.However as the case of Dell Inc. illustrates, the advent of the Internet has changed the communications process fundamentally. The advent of the Internet means that the consumers are inundated with information. Therefore both private and public sector organizations have to work harder in orde r to grip the consumers’ minds.In addressing this difficulty, integrated marketing communications are the critical success factors. This is because the modern business organization has a knowledge management system which maintains information on the different promotional media that are being applied. Integrated marketing communications enable the management to capitalize on this knowledge management system.In order to maximize the effectiveness of integrated marketing communications, both private and public sector organizations have to develop unique positioning strategies. This means identifying the needs of the target market because an effective positioning strategy must address these needs. However because the consumers are inundated with information from all kinds of media, it is difficult for an organization to get their attention.Therefore the organization must broadcast its message in such a manner that it will grab the audience’s attention immediately. This obj ective can only be met through integrated marketing communications because under this framework, the different departments are coordinating their activities so that a variety of promotional strategies can be synergistically combined (cited in George & Weimerskirch, 1998).This maximizes the efficiency of the communications process. Therefore the process has to start with identifying the needs of the audience. Once these needs have been identified, the management can create an effective positioning strategy (cited in Goetsch & Davis, 2003).The effectiveness of integrated marketing communications lies in the fact that consumers are indifferent as to which source of information the message is coming from. They certainly do not discriminate between different promotional media. Yet it is only through broadcasting through different promotional media that a private or a public sector organization can get the message across to its audience (cited in Pearlson & Saunders, 2007).Therefore the d ifferent departments in an organization must coordinate in order to send a consistent message using different promotional media. Therefore the process of integrated marketing communications also ensures that a consistent message is delivered to the audience.This strengthens the positioning strategy of the company. This is a critical consideration in the current business environment which is characterized by a considerable level of competitive rivalry which drowns the market in information in the form of promotional campaigns. This creates a challenge for public sector organizations which must engineer an integrated marketing communication process to cut through the staticFor both private and public sector organizations, marketing communications are the vitals tools of ensuring the viability of their operations. This has been long recognized. Therefore all organizations are conducting the communications process in one form or another. However particularly in public sector organizatio ns the communications process is highly fragmented across different departments.As a result, the same organization may be transmitting different messages to its target audience. These inconsistencies can be eliminated through the integrated marketing communications process which is essentially a process of addressing the needs of the stakeholders by targeting them with the same message across a number of different promotional media. Therefore the process has to be driven by the needs of the audience.Depending on the needs and the segmentation characteristics of the audience, the private or public sector organization has to develop the message and select the right promotional media.ReferencesAaker, David A. (2004). Strategic Market Management. McGraw Hill/Irwin.Armstrong, Michael. (2005). Strategic Human Resource Management. Prentice Hall.Bank, John. (1993). The Essence of Total Quality Management. McGraw Hill.Besterfield, Dale H., et al. (2002). Total Quality Management. 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Managing & Using Information Systems.South western college pub.Raffee, Hans & Ralf T. Kreutzer 1989, ‘Organizational dimensions of global marketing’, Journal of knowledge management, 23, pp 6-14.Ross, Joel E. and Susan Perry. (2002). Total Quality Management: Text, Cases, Readings. Wiley.Shannon, J Richard 1999, ‘Sports marketing: an examination of academic marketing publication’ Journal of Services Marketing, 13, pp 19-23.Stair, Ralph., and George Reynolds. (2007). Fundamentals of Information Systems.McGraw Hill/Irwin.Zineldin, Mosad 2000, ‘Beyond relationship marketing: technologicalship marketing’Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 18, pp 32-34. Â  

Write summary Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Write summary - Article Example Multi-level analysis can distinguish the impact of the teachers from the school environment and analyze the factors at each level. The study was conducted because of the significant role that technology plays in enhancing the learning experience. The study employed multi-level modeling to analyze data obtained from 3,652 teachers who specialize in handling students in grade 1-9. The study was conducted in 289 schools in Taiwan. According to the article, both school-level factors and teacher-level factors affected the integration of ICT in the process of teaching. The teacher-level factors identified by the study are the beliefs of a teacher and the amount of hours spent in training in the previous year positively influenced ICT Integration. The school level factors that affect ICT integration are hours of training and the way teachers perceive the support from the school. The other factors influencing ICT integration are internet access, quality of computers, number of projectors available and stability of the available computers. The results indicate the significant role that teachers and schools play in the integration of ICT to improve the quality of the learning experience. Teachers play a significant role in the process of ICT integration. Ayub, A. M., Bakar, K. A., & Ismail, R. (2012). Relationships between school support, school facilities, ICT culture and mathematics teachers attitudes towards ICT in teaching and learning.  AIP Conference Proceedings,  1450(1), 196-200. Doi:10.1063/1.4724139 The study examines the relationship between school support, facilities, ICT culture and attitudes of mathematics towards ICT integration in learning and teaching. ICT enables students to widen their sources of the information because of the web. Teachers have the opportunity to use the available technology to create a relatively more interactive and informative learning process. According to the study, the

Discussion 5 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Discussion 5 - Research Paper Example Pain medication usage should be carefully monitored to prevent overuse, abuse, and the possibility of addiction in both groups. The control group patients especially should be watched for the necessity of a referral to other pain management methods. Pain research studies also have the possibility of issues with informed consent due to a confounding of clinical treatment with research, which may be an issue with this study. Patients may join a pain study with the intent of accessing treatment or having their pain taken seriously. This reduces their ability to truly consent to the research (Wasan et al., 2009). A separate ethical issue that is not as relevant to the study at hand but is related to the ethics of pain research is the availability of pain management medications to all study participants regardless of the group they have been placed in for the research purposes (Drummond, 2009). Research considerations specific to the community involved also exist. The researcher must be a ware of the culture of the people they are studying and the effects this has on etiquette in that culture, to avoid offending the research subjects or contaminating their results. Cross-cultural researchers must also be careful to understand the heterogenity of a foreign culture, and to interpret their findings appropriately.